Install with Bower

Install with npm

require('bootstrap') will load all of Bootstrap's jQuery plugins onto the jQuery object. The bootstrap module itself does not export anything. You can manually load Bootstrap's jQuery plugins individually by loading the /js/*.js files under the package's top-level directory.

Bootstrap's package.json contains some additional metadata under the following keys:

Install with Composer

You can also install and manage Bootstrap's Less, CSS, JavaScript, and fonts using Composer:

$ composer require twbs/bootstrap

Autoprefixer required for Less/Sass

Bootstrap uses Autoprefixer to deal with CSS vendor prefixes. If you're compiling Bootstrap from its Less/Sass source and not using our Gruntfile, you'll need to integrate Autoprefixer into your build process yourself. If you're using precompiled Bootstrap or using our Gruntfile, you don't need to worry about this because Autoprefixer is already integrated into our Gruntfile.

What's included

Bootstrap is downloadable in two forms, within which you'll find the following directories and files, logically grouping common resources and providing both compiled and minified variations.

This is the most basic form of Bootstrap: precompiled files for quick drop-in usage in nearly any web project. We provide compiled CSS and JS (bootstrap.*), as well as compiled and minified CSS and JS (bootstrap.min.*). CSS source maps (bootstrap.*.map) are available for use with certain browsers' developer tools. Fonts from Glyphicons are included, as is the optional Bootstrap theme.

Bootstrap source code

The Bootstrap source code download includes the precompiled CSS, JavaScript, and font assets, along with source Less, JavaScript, and documentation. More specifically, it includes the following and more:

The less/, js/, and fonts/ are the source code for our CSS, JS, and icon fonts (respectively). The dist/ folder includes everything listed in the precompiled download section above. The docs/ folder includes the source code for our documentation, and examples/ of Bootstrap usage. Beyond that, any other included file provides support for packages, license information, and development.

Compiling CSS and JavaScript

Bootstrap uses Grunt for its build system, with convenient methods for working with the framework. It's how we compile our code, run tests, and more.

grunt watch (Watch)

grunt test (Run tests)

grunt docs (Build & test the docs assets)

Builds and tests CSS, JavaScript, and other assets which are used when running the documentation locally via bundle exec jekyll serve.

grunt (Build absolutely everything and run tests)

Compiles and minifies CSS and JavaScript, builds the documentation website, runs the HTML5 validator against the docs, regenerates the Customizer assets, and more. Requires Jekyll. Usually only necessary if you're hacking on Bootstrap itself.

Troubleshooting

Should you encounter problems with installing dependencies or running Grunt commands, first delete the /node_modules/ directory generated by npm. Then, rerun npm install.

Basic template

Start with this basic HTML template, or modify these examples. We hope you'll customize our templates and examples, adapting them to suit your needs.

Copy the HTML below to begin working with a minimal Bootstrap document.

Sticky footer with navbar

Experiments

Non-responsive Bootstrap

Off-canvas

Build a toggleable off-canvas navigation menu for use with Bootstrap.

Tools

Bootlint

Bootlint is the official Bootstrap HTML linter tool. It automatically checks for several common HTML mistakes in webpages that are using Bootstrap in a fairly "vanilla" way. Vanilla Bootstrap's components/widgets require their parts of the DOM to conform to certain structures. Bootlint checks that instances of Bootstrap components have correctly-structured HTML. Consider adding Bootlint to your Bootstrap web development toolchain so that none of the common mistakes slow down your project's development.

Community

Stay up to date on the development of Bootstrap and reach out to the community with these helpful resources.

Steps to disable page responsiveness

Override the width on the .container for each grid tier with a single width, for example width: 970px !important; Be sure that this comes after the default Bootstrap CSS. You can optionally avoid the !important with media queries or some selector-fu.

If using navbars, remove all navbar collapsing and expanding behavior.

For grid layouts, use .col-xs-* classes in addition to, or in place of, the medium/large ones. Don't worry, the extra-small device grid scales to all resolutions.

You'll still need Respond.js for IE8 (since our media queries are still there and need to be processed). This disables the "mobile site" aspects of Bootstrap.

Bootstrap template with responsiveness disabled

We've applied these steps to an example. Read its source code to see the specific changes implemented.

Migrating from v2.x to v3.x

Browser and device support

Bootstrap is built to work best in the latest desktop and mobile browsers, meaning older browsers might display differently styled, though fully functional, renderings of certain components.

Supported browsers

Specifically, we support the latest versions of the following browsers and platforms.

Alternative browsers which use the latest version of WebKit, Blink, or Gecko, whether directly or via the platform's web view API, are not explicitly supported. However, Bootstrap should (in most cases) display and function correctly in these browsers as well. More specific support information is provided below.

Unofficially, Bootstrap should look and behave well enough in Chromium and Chrome for Linux, Firefox for Linux, and Internet Explorer 7, as well as Microsoft Edge, though they are not officially supported.

For a list of some of the browser bugs that Bootstrap has to grapple with, see our Wall of browser bugs.

Internet Explorer 8 and 9

Internet Explorer 8 and 9 are also supported, however, please be aware that some CSS3 properties and HTML5 elements are not fully supported by these browsers. In addition, Internet Explorer 8 requires the use of Respond.js to enable media query support.

Feature

Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 9

border-radius

Not supported

Supported

box-shadow

Not supported

Supported

transform

Not supported

Supported, with -ms prefix

transition

Not supported

placeholder

Not supported

Visit Can I use... for details on browser support of CSS3 and HTML5 features.

Internet Explorer 8 and Respond.js

Beware of the following caveats when using Respond.js in your development and production environments for Internet Explorer 8.

Respond.js and cross-domain CSS

Using Respond.js with CSS hosted on a different (sub)domain (for example, on a CDN) requires some additional setup. See the Respond.js docs for details.

Respond.js and file://

Due to browser security rules, Respond.js doesn't work with pages viewed via the file:// protocol (like when opening a local HTML file). To test responsive features in IE8, view your pages over HTTP(S). See the Respond.js docs for details.

Respond.js and @import

Respond.js doesn't work with CSS that's referenced via @import. In particular, some Drupal configurations are known to use @import. See the Respond.js docs for details.

Internet Explorer 8 and box-sizing

IE8 does not fully support box-sizing: border-box; when combined with min-width, max-width, min-height, or max-height. For that reason, as of v3.0.1, we no longer use max-width on .containers.

Internet Explorer 8 and @font-face

IE8 has some issues with @font-face when combined with :before. Bootstrap uses that combination with its Glyphicons. If a page is cached, and loaded without the mouse over the window (i.e. hit the refresh button or load something in an iframe) then the page gets rendered before the font loads. Hovering over the page (body) will show some of the icons and hovering over the remaining icons will show those as well. See issue #13863 for details.

IE Compatibility modes

Bootstrap is not supported in the old Internet Explorer compatibility modes. To be sure you're using the latest rendering mode for IE, consider including the appropriate <meta> tag in your pages:

<metahttp-equiv="X-UA-Compatible"content="IE=edge">

Confirm the document mode by opening the debugging tools: press F12 and check the "Document Mode".

This tag is included in all of Bootstrap's documentation and examples to ensure the best rendering possible in each supported version of Internet Explorer.

However, this doesn't work for devices running Windows Phone 8 versions older than Update 3 (a.k.a. GDR3), as it causes such devices to show a mostly desktop view instead of narrow "phone" view. To address this, you'll need to include the following CSS and JavaScript to work around the bug.

As a heads up, we include this in all of Bootstrap's documentation and examples as a demonstration.

Safari percent rounding

The rendering engine of versions of Safari prior to v7.1 for OS X and Safari for iOS v8.0 had some trouble with the number of decimal places used in our .col-*-1 grid classes. So if you had 12 individual grid columns, you'd notice that they came up short compared to other rows of columns. Besides upgrading Safari/iOS, you have some options for workarounds:

Add .pull-right to your last grid column to get the hard-right alignment

Tweak your percentages manually to get the perfect rounding for Safari (more difficult than the first option)

Modals, navbars, and virtual keyboards

Overflow and scrolling

Support for overflow: hidden on the <body> element is quite limited in iOS and Android. To that end, when you scroll past the top or bottom of a modal in either of those devices' browsers, the <body> content will begin to scroll. See Chrome bug #175502 (fixed in Chrome v40) and WebKit bug #153852.

iOS text fields and scrolling

As of iOS 9.3, while a modal is open, if the initial touch of a scroll gesture is within the boundary of a textual <input> or a <textarea>, the <body> content underneath the modal will be scrolled instead of the modal itself. See WebKit bug #153856.

Virtual keyboards

Also, note that if you're using a fixed navbar or using inputs within a modal, iOS has a rendering bug that doesn't update the position of fixed elements when the virtual keyboard is triggered. A few workarounds for this include transforming your elements to position: absolute or invoking a timer on focus to try to correct the positioning manually. This is not handled by Bootstrap, so it is up to you to decide which solution is best for your application.

Browser zooming

Page zooming inevitably presents rendering artifacts in some components, both in Bootstrap and the rest of the web. Depending on the issue, we may be able to fix it (search first and then open an issue if need be). However, we tend to ignore these as they often have no direct solution other than hacky workarounds.

Sticky :hover/:focus on mobile

Even though real hovering isn't possible on most touchscreens, most mobile browsers emulate hovering support and make :hover "sticky". In other words, :hover styles start applying after tapping an element and only stop applying after the user taps some other element. This can cause Bootstrap's :hover states to become undesirably "stuck" on such browsers. Some mobile browsers also make :focus similarly sticky. There is currently no simple workaround for these issues other than removing such styles entirely.

Printing

Even in some modern browsers, printing can be quirky.

In particular, as of Chrome v32 and regardless of margin settings, Chrome uses a viewport width significantly narrower than the physical paper size when resolving media queries while printing a webpage. This can result in Bootstrap's extra-small grid being unexpectedly activated when printing. See issue #12078 and Chrome bug #273306 for some details. Suggested workarounds:

Embrace the extra-small grid and make sure your page looks acceptable under it.

Customize the values of the @screen-* Less variables so that your printer paper is considered larger than extra-small.

Also, as of Safari v8.0, fixed-width .containers can cause Safari to use an unusually small font size when printing. See #14868 and WebKit bug #138192 for more details. One potential workaround for this is adding the following CSS:

@mediaprint{.container{width:auto;}}

Android stock browser

Out of the box, Android 4.1 (and even some newer releases apparently) ship with the Browser app as the default web browser of choice (as opposed to Chrome). Unfortunately, the Browser app has lots of bugs and inconsistencies with CSS in general.

Select menus

On <select> elements, the Android stock browser will not display the side controls if there is a border-radius and/or border applied. (See this StackOverflow question for details.) Use the snippet of code below to remove the offending CSS and render the <select> as an unstyled element on the Android stock browser. The user agent sniffing avoids interference with Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla browsers.

Validators

In order to provide the best possible experience to old and buggy browsers, Bootstrap uses CSS browser hacks in several places to target special CSS to certain browser versions in order to work around bugs in the browsers themselves. These hacks understandably cause CSS validators to complain that they are invalid. In a couple places, we also use bleeding-edge CSS features that aren't yet fully standardized, but these are used purely for progressive enhancement.

These validation warnings don't matter in practice since the non-hacky portion of our CSS does fully validate and the hacky portions don't interfere with the proper functioning of the non-hacky portion, hence why we deliberately ignore these particular warnings.

Our HTML docs likewise have some trivial and inconsequential HTML validation warnings due to our inclusion of a workaround for a certain Firefox bug.

Third party support

While we don't officially support any third party plugins or add-ons, we do offer some useful advice to help avoid potential issues in your projects.

Box-sizing

Some third party software, including Google Maps and Google Custom Search Engine, conflict with Bootstrap due to * { box-sizing: border-box; }, a rule which makes it so padding does not affect the final computed width of an element. Learn more about box model and sizing at CSS Tricks.

Depending on the context, you may override as-needed (Option 1) or reset the box-sizing for entire regions (Option 2).

Accessibility

Bootstrap follows common web standards and—with minimal extra effort—can be used to create sites that are accessible to those using AT.

Skip navigation

If your navigation contains many links and comes before the main content in the DOM, add a Skip to main content link before the navigation (for a simple explanation, see this A11Y Project article on skip navigation links). Using the .sr-only class will visually hide the skip link, and the .sr-only-focusable class will ensure that the link becomes visible once focused (for sighted keyboard users).

In addition, you may want to explicitly suppress a visible focus indication on the target (particularly as Chrome currently also sets focus on elements with tabindex="-1" when they are clicked with the mouse) with #content:focus { outline: none; }.

Note that this bug will also affect any other in-page links your site may be using, rendering them useless for keyboard users. You may consider adding a similar stop-gap fix to all other named anchors / fragment identifiers that act as link targets.

<body><ahref="#content"class="sr-only sr-only-focusable">Skip to main content</a>
...
<divclass="container"id="content"tabindex="-1"><!-- The main page content --></div></body>

Nested headings

When nesting headings (<h1> - <h6>), your primary document header should be an <h1>. Subsequent headings should make logical use of <h2> - <h6> such that screen readers can construct a table of contents for your pages.

Color contrast

Currently, some of the default color combinations available in Bootstrap (such as the various styled button classes, some of the code highlighting colors used for basic code blocks, the .bg-primarycontextual background helper class, and the default link color when used on a white background) have a low contrast ratio (below the recommended ratio of 4.5:1). This can cause problems to users with low vision or who are color blind. These default colors may need to be modified to increase their contrast and legibility.